Day 4: Big Springs Camp to The Confluence (approx 6 miles)
Although I was awake early at 5am this morning, I slept pretty well last night, helped by the cool dinosaur braid that Pika had woven my hair into that had the unintended effect of stopping my head sliding around my inflatable pillow! I’d had bonkers dreams again- this time, I dreamt an entire HBO Original mini-series worth of aliens invading the planet and taking over humanity – think crazy mash-up of Alien meets the Walking Dead meets Jurassic Park. I don’t think I could blame it on the Sacred Datura this time as there were no bushes anywhere nearby – perhaps its all the jam. Or maybe the sound of desert critters trying to gnaw their way through the metal mesh “rat bag” in which my food and snacks were being stored had seeped into my subconscious somehow….
We were to travel an additional 6 miles up into Paria Canyon today, with the walls getting taller and taller and the river bed narrower and narrower, until we reached the Confluence – the place where Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch meet. Our campsite was just past the Confluence, up into Buckskin Gulch, high up on a plateau overlooking the gulch river.
Breakfast was again glorious – and I think everyone is talking in British accents due to the liberal quantity of mashed potatoes that have been sprinkled throughout our menu. A couple of days ago we had mash in our burritos (GENIUS) and today we were enjoying mashed potatoes with veggies and sausage for breakfast. Just glorious and warms the cockles of this old Brit’s heart.
One of our side quests today was to a place called Abandoned Meander. For those geology nerds out there, according to Wikipedia “A meander is when water flows in a curvy, bendy path, like a snake. As a river makes its way through an area that is relatively flat, it often develops bends as it erodes its way through the path of least resistance. Once a meander starts, it often becomes more and more exaggerated as water is pushed to the outside of a bend, eroding the curve further, while water on the inside is slower and deposits sediment. Abandoned meanders can form during a flood or when the river cannot carry excess sediment through the bend, so the river finds a new path to flow, following the path of least resistance. The abandoned meander creates a body of water known as an oxbow lake”.
The abandoned meander we visited was dry as it been formed quite a while ago (but no-one knows exactly how long) and we had to do a quick bit of climbing to get into it, as the entrance point was now higher than the existing canyon floor. I’d not done any canyoneering before – but again, our fabulously capable guides talked us through what we needed to do so I rather inelegantly butt-shuffled my way across the gap (Mind The Gap) and up into the Meander. (Amanda’s technique was much better than mine!) It was pretty interesting to walk through the dried up canyon – and to see the difference in height of the old, dried up river bed with the current one. At the other end of the meander, we had to scooch back down the rocks – I was even less graceful this time and invented a new move I called “The Snake” where I basically slithered down the rock in a somewhat uncontrolled manner, skinning my knee and left thigh along the way. But it wasn’t that bad and I was very brave. I did have a passing thought about what exactly was in the Paria River’s waters and whether that would be bad against an open graze (apparently, its not uncommon for people to develop a rash after hiking in the river- yikes) – I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
The next rock formation of interest was called the Three Elephants – for fairly obvious reasons. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m looking at constellations in the night sky, the names they are given always seem a bit of a stretch to me. “See those two stars there and then that third one off to the right and the fourth one you’ll just pretend to see – we call that one Lady With Goat”. At least with these Paria Canyon rock formations, you didn’t have to be completely high or delusional to make them out! We also walked past the Hollywood Bowl (a big open amphitheater-like space) before stopping for an early lunch under a huge cottonwood tree nicknamed The Love Tree for some unknown reason. Maybe people really just love eating lunch there?
We were deep in Paria Canyon now, hiking through a landscape of towering rock walls that rose like natural skyscrapers, framing the narrow canyon path below. The sun’s intermittent rays created a dramatic interplay of dark and light, casting deep shadows across the red and orange sandstone while illuminating the strange and intricate patterns etched by time and water. This constantly shifting contrast between light and shadow transformed the canyon walls into a living, breathing masterpiece, each bend offering a fresh view of the raw and timeless beauty unique to this special place. Everyone walked in silence, awed by the continued spectacle unfolding before us, lost in our own thoughts and feeling connected to the natural beauty surrounding us. Even the sound of our boots squelching through the mud seemed muted. We stopped in one particularly moody spot and Pika sang a few bars of an achingly beautiful melody which echoed round the canyon and caused the hairs on the back of my arm to stand up. We stood in reverential silence — right up until one of our group farted. It was only a little parp, but in the dead quiet, it was loud enough that everyone could hear it. For a split second, no-one moved (or breathed) – until the culprit burst out laughing. Then we all fell about and the spell was broken. (make sure to turn the sound ON for the video below – fart, alas, not captured)
Mid-afternoon, we stopped at another site of interest called The Keyhole. This involved another steep climb to this huge faux arch-like structure that was indented into the rock. I decided to sit this one out and instead enjoy a very welcome patch of sun, where I could warm myself up and thaw out my frozen wet feet. Me and another couple of ladies sat and watched the rest of our group climb up to the Keyhole and pose for some group shots. The views from the Keyhole were fantastic (I pinched Amanda’s picture) so I mildly regretted not climbing up there, but I thought better safe than sorry for this particular side quest (plus the sun was sooo tempting, I couldn’t refuse).
We finally arrived at the point where Paria Canyon meets with Buckskin Gulch – called The Confluence. Buckskin Gulch is one of the longest and deepest slot canyons in the Southwestern United States, and so we are expecting the scenery to be as dramatic, if not more so, as the canyon we’d just spent the last 4 days hiking through. It was also going to be our exit point via the Middle Route and Ronnie and Pika went into detail as what to expect for tomorrow. While the distance we were to cover wasn’t that long (about 5.5 miles), the terrain had the potential to be more challenging – as the canyon was narrower, any water (from rainfall the previous week) could be deeper. Also, there were two significant hurdles to navigate – one called The Obstacle (aka Boulder Jam) and the other, a Class III scramble up the rockface along an ancient route to climb out of the canyon. Both of these elements had been described to me as I was deciding to sign up for the trip, so I knew they were coming – but both would be new, challenging experiences, so I was still a teeny bit apprehensive. But I felt confident we were in safe hands, so bring it on!!
And so it was that we had already come to our last night of camping out in Paria Canyon and our last dinner under the stars. After dinner, we sat round the Camp Light and chatted again – people sharing their highs, lows and buffalos (ie one thing you’d learned) during the trip. It was very touching to hear people’s different perspectives and what they’d gained from the experience so far. Everyone had had different reasons for signing up and it was nice to hear the pride in themselves that people expressed for having navigated this challenging hike, and the support everyone else had offered along the way. It was a nice verbal group hug – and a lovely way to finish our last evening. It was then time for an early night, to get a good sleep, ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow!
